All change for the fast lane
It's all change all the time, here at inconsistency central. My nice calm, predictable life is suddenly full of radical ... radicalness. The latest shake up is that since I told the landlord I'm moving out, he has decided to sell the house. In what shape does this leave my house mate? She would like to stay, but he wants her to go, so he can rennovate the kitchen and put the place on the market.
Fair enough, I suppose, but he's doing that thing, which those of you who know my landlord will recognise ... you know, the "we're all reasonable people, we can work something out" thing. It's code, you see, for "now that I need something from you, I want you to think of me as a reasonable person, and not decide to make everything messy by appealing to any legal rights that you might happen to have".
Anyway, apparently Oakland passed a Just Cause eviction ordinance in 2002, which means that unless the tenant has done something eggregious (I'm paraphrasing obviously), a landlord who wants to evict to sell has to invoke the Ellis Act. What's not at all clear to me is how the Oakland ordinance and the Ellis Act interact. Does the 120 day provision of the Ellis act mean that she can continue to live here for another 4 months? Can she sub-let to cover the part of the rent that I'm currently paying? And what about these relocation costs that the landlord may have to pay?
Ugh. It's all very complicated. And anyway, I've got my own housing situation to deal with.
Under the stairs live ....
Downstairs? That's the gremlins you're thinking of. The other renters live in back. Actually there's two sets of in back renters ... one apartment that's half a level lower than the main house and an upstairs apartment that's half a level up from the main house. I mentioned to them that Jim was going to sell the house, and they were completely surprised, so we'll see if they end up getting eviction notices too.
Eviction notice received
We just got the 30-day eviction notice today. Why do landlords have to be such jackasses? He stands to collect $800k cash if the house sells, and he's worrying about getting us out an extra month early. We're gonna call up Just Cause Oakland and get some advice on what he can get away with.
Anyway, yeah, the house is gonna need a lot of work before it's in sellable shape, it seems to me.
selling plans
Change does seem to beget change. I suspect that the structural neglect is going to make this a harder sell than he is anticipating, even if he is successful in getting your house mate to move out (is it up to modern building and wiring codes etc?). Perhaps one thing might be to encourage him to get a professional opinion early on on whether remodelling the kitchen is really going to make the place saleable or whether it might be more in his interests to sell it basically as a lot for rebuilding. Then he and your house mate may be able to negotiate a deal for reduced rent while he shows the place.
the people under the stairs
Aren't there renters downstairs, too? I've never seen them, mind you. But I take it as an article of faith that they're down there.